Land & Water Conservation Fund Grant

Authorized by the US Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Act of 1965 established a federally funded program to provide 50/50 matching grants to state and local governments for the purpose acquiring and/or developing public outdoor recreational areas and facilities. The program is administered nationally by the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS) with 100% of the supporting revenues generated from offshore oil and gas leases, and zero taxpayer dollars. LWCF is intended to create and maintain a nationwide legacy of quality public outdoor recreational resources as well as to stimulate non-federal investments in the purchase, development, maintenance and protection of these highly valued outdoor recreational areas. Per section 6(f)(3) of the LWCF Act, “No property acquired or developed with assistance under this section shall, without the approval of the Secretary (USDOI), be converted to other than public outdoor recreation uses.”

LWCF is managed at the state levels by the state governments. In order to be eligible to receive a program apportionment from the NPS, each state must develop and maintain a Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) and appoint an official State Liaison Officer. In New Hampshire the Department of Resources and Economic Development, Division of Parks and Recreation, Office of Community Recreation is responsible for managing the program, coordinating grant rounds for project funding and monitoring past project sites for program compliance in within New Hampshire.

Since its inception the LWCF program has led to over 640 acquisition and development projects throughout the state, totaling almost $40,000,000.00 in grant assistance.

Grant Round 29

The Division of Parks and Recreation is now accepting Intent-to-Apply forms for Grant Round 29. Intent forms are due by 4:00 PM, August 11, 2017.

Upon receipt, intent forms will be reviewed and project site inspections will be coordinated to determine eligibility. Formal applications will only be made available once a site inspection has been completed and the project is determined to be eligible.

Potential applicants/project sponsors must be an official entity of a municipal, county or state government, school district or state college/university within the State of NH. Applicants should be aware that the process timeline for reviews, selections, and approval of grant awards is approximately one year +/-.

Projects must be in direct support of public outdoor recreational uses of related properties and/or facilities. Eligible project types are as follows:

Development: This includes new support facilities or renovation of existing support facilities.

Acquisition: This includes purchase of fee simple title or legal control of property for public use. This can be acquisition of abutting land to an existing developed recreational area, private recreational areas to be converted to public use, or undeveloped property to establish a new outdoor recreational area. (Projects to acquire undeveloped property in order create new public outdoor recreational areas must include a component for public access. These types of projects must be submitted as a “combination” below.)

Combination: This includes projects that consist of elements for both development and acquisition.

Funding request limits (50% of total project) will be set for a minimum of $25,000.00 and a maximum of $200,000.00. Please send Intent forms to:

Formal application information workshops will be coordinated for sponsors whose projects are determined to be eligible through the intent process. Dates and time will be determined once funds become available.

If you have any questions please contact Bill Gegas, LWCF Program Specialist; or Eric Feldbaum - Community Recreation Specialist at (603) 271-3556, or lwcf@dred.nh.gov.

Existing Project Sponsors

Below is a list of all project sponsors/grant recipients in since 1965. As mentioned above, all sponsors are committed by federal law to ensure proper program compliance.

Project #

Sponsor

Project Name

Project Scope

Grant $

33-00705

Town of Deerfield

Hartford Brook Ballfields

Development of recreational fields, concession facilities and parking facilities.

$25,000.00

33-00706

Town of Brookline

Nissitissit River Park

Acquisition and development of 1350’ section of rail trail; development of 1500’ of accessible trail along Nissitissit River, fishing platform, car-top boat launch, and parking facilities.